The continental grip (CG) is dead — or at the very least, it’s on life-support. For years we have been advocating for the CG to be used in a range of different pickleball situations but most especially when up near the non-volley zone. But as pickleball has evolved, so has our perspective. This article is about why we are saying goodbye to the CG.
What is the continental grip, exactly? There’s a lot of misunderstanding about the CG, so let’s clarify it once and for all: The CG is found when the V of your hand (between your thumb and index finger) is right on top of the paddle handle. On the flat part. This is similar to how a person might hold a hammer. This is not to be confused with what some called a ‘handshake’ grip which is different because it is slightly on the side of a handle, as though you were shaking a person’s hand. More on this later. The CG is where the V of your hand is centred in a neutral position — not biased toward one side of the handle or another. You can see a thorough discussion of grips here.
When the continental grip is useful. The CG is good for lots of things. It has a natural tendency to open up the paddle face when swinging toward the ball. This makes it ideal when you want to lift a ball up when playing a lob or dink, for example. It is also useful when hitting a shot with backspin, like a return of serve or slicing drop. Backspin requires a slightly open paddle face and a high-to-low swing path. The CG is great for this.
Like many elite tennis players who come to pickleball, Jay Devilliers will comfortably use a continental grip when hitting backhand volleys with backspin. The naturally open paddle face makes slicing the ball easier.
Many strong pickleball players come from a tennis background and are very familiar with the CG. It has many applications in tennis, which we won’t go into here. We also originally come from a solid tennis background, and this biased us toward the over-emphasizing the CG. We were familiar with it and knew how to use it effectively. In the end, this turned out to be a blind spot.
Why not the continental grip? There are several limitations when using the CG. One of the main ones is it is difficult to hit the ball with topspin. Topspin requires a neutral, paddle face and a little high swing path. Because the CG naturally opens the paddle face a little, it can be uncomfortable — though not impossible — to turn the hand and wrist sufficiently in order to close it. The CG wit the paddle face to be open, so it is a near constant battle when you want to keep it closed. This is especially a problem when up at the net hitting forehand volleys. The evolution of pickleball is such that it is now common practice to hit forehand volleys with topspin — something almost never done in tennis, hence the blind spot. Hitting these volleys with topspin is difficult to do with a CG.
Another strike against the CG is that while it is comfortable for advanced tennis players who have spent many hours becoming familiar with it, the average pickleball player will not have this muscle memory. Here’s an experiment to try: find an average person and give them a chance to hit a pickleball. You will notice almost always that they 1) look to use their forehand; 2) put their hand behind the paddle handle when hitting a forehand. This is because this is a stronger hitting position for them to be in. It is, in the sense, most natural for them. So, when we are teaching new players to use a CG, we are fighting against most people’s instincts. This is an uphill battle and, frankly, one that is no longer worth fighting.
Alternatives? When given the choice, most new payers will use what’s known as an eastern forehand. This is similar to shaking hands and where the hand is slightly on the side of the handle. When hitting a forehand, the player feels themselves to be in a fairly strong position with their palm facing toward the ball as they make contact. By allowing players to use the eastern forehand grip, we are letting them do what naturally feels good and developing a technique that will be useful in many pickleball situations. There is a lot of upside here.
The eastern forehand grip, however, is not without its limitations. Holding the paddle with this grip while hitting a forehand is fine. But using this grip while hitting a backhand can cause a lot of trouble: the paddle face is now quite open by nature which will make it hard to keep the ball low. Additionally, while the eastern forehand grip puts the hand behind the paddle when hitting on the forehand side, the hand is now in front of a paddle when hitting a backhand. This is a weak position to be in which tends to cause problems with effectiveness as well as create greater potential for injury.
So what to do? There is no simple solution. If players are going to hit forehands with an eastern grip, that’s fine. But they will have to manage the backhand somehow. One option is learn to switch grips quickly. The CG on the backhand is a stronger hitting position. However, players often don’t have enough time to switch grips between their dominant, and non-dominant sides.
A second option could be to just try to power your way through. To roll your hand and wrist and use the shoulder to hit the one-handed backhand with the eastern forehand grip. Again, This puts quite a bit of strain on the body and increases the risk of getting hurt.
Susannah Barr hitting a backhand volley while using an eastern forehand grip. Notice how her hand is in front of the handle, creating a relatively weak hitting position.
A third solution is to use a two-handed backhand. While the dominant hand is still in a weak position (eastern forehand), the non-dominant hand is used to support the paddle through the swing — in fact, the non-dominant hand tends to do most of the heavy lifting on the two-handed backhand. The flexibility from the two-handed backhand is one one reason why we see many professional pickleball players, using two hands on their backend. It allows them to keep their forehand in a very strong position and limits the liability on the back inside because they’re hitting with two hands. In a meaningful way, this is the best of both worlds solution.
Mary Brascia hits a two-handed backhand dink. The second hand provides enough stability so that she can keep her dominant hand (her right) well-suited for powerful forehands.
Final analysis. Is it wrong to use a CG? No. There are still may times where we think it is the preferred grip. A slicing return of serve, for example, tends to be easier to hit with a CG because the paddle face opens a little more easily, allowing the bottom edge to lead through the shot. Dinks that you want to send with backspin will tend to be easier with a CG.
On balance, however, we think that the eastern forehand grip carries with it significant upside — especially around the NVZ. The strong hitting position, ability to create topspin, the feeling that it is ‘natural’ and the fact that the limitations on the backhand side can be countered with a second hand, has persuaded us that when it comes to playing near the net, the eastern forehand grip offers a lot. We reconsidered our position on the matter and think that if you are a hardcore advocate for the continental grip as the best grip, you should do the same.
Anna-Leigh Waters preparing to drive a two-handed backhand from the baseline.